World out of Balance: Navigating Global Risks to Seize Competitive Advantage

Book Description

Understanding, planning for, and thriving in the global business environment

Business leaders face a global environment that is increasingly complex and treacherous. Written by the managing director of A.T. Kearney's prestigious Global Policy Institute, World Out of Balance draws upon the insights of an elite group of business leaders, academics, and government officials from around the world, focusing on the five factors that are shaping tomorrow's business environment: Globalization--rising levels of trade, communication, and travel Demographics--slowed population growth in developed countries, and increased growth in the third world Consumption Patterns--increasingly diverse consumer markets, causing fierce market competition Natural Resources and Environment--oil markets reaching a crisis stage, and other shortages predicted in the coming decades Regulation and Activism--calls for greater regulation point to long-term business challenges

With intelligence and insight, World Out of Balance provides executives, consultants, and business thinkers with the high caliber of information and insight you need to plan for, rather than react to, important emerging trends shaping the global business environment. Author Paul Laudicina offers compelling snapshots of key trends and how they may evolve in the years ahead--and provides practical scenarios and expert guidelines to help you prepare your organizations to meet these challenges and profit by them.

From the Back Cover

A dynamic approach to survival and success in a rapidly changing business world

Increased competition. Collapsed time horizons. Intense scrutiny. Rapid geopolitical change. These are just a few of the challenges corporate leaders and other key decision makers face in today’s volatile global environment. New technologies and other innovations add speed and efficiency to the way we do business—but at the same time, they increase risk factors that can slow down and even destroy companies. New government regulations, rising energy costs, and an endless array of unforeseen complications are forcing corporate leaders to look beyond the bottom line of short-term success—by anticipating potential problems and planning for future growth, even when the playing field is rapidly changing.

But how can you and your company stay ahead in a world out of balance? How can you prepare for the opportunities and threats that come along with burgeoning populations in unfamiliar markets, rising anti-corporate activism, emerging oil and water shortages, and constantly changing consumer needs? The answer, according to Paul Laudicina, is foresight and flexibility. He has identified the crucial keys to success in turbulent times. Many companies focus their attention on internal operations and short-term goals—and blame their shortcomings on factors outside their control. But “value-building companies” look onward and outward—anticipating problems, managing risks, and developing new growth opportunities. They are prepared for the future. They are in control of their destinies. And you can be, too.

This important book couldn’t have come at a better time. Not only does it highlight emerging trends and possible scenarios for tomorrow’s business environment, it also reveals what every business leader needs to know about the new global environment—and offers an in-depth analysis of the five drivers shaping an ever-changing business world: Globalization—the rising risks and rewards of trade, communication, and travel that bring increased vulnerabilities along with new opportunities Demographics—slowed population growth in developed countries and increased growth in developing markets Consumer Needs—increasingly diverse and demanding consumer markets, causing fierce market competition Natural Resources and Environment—the new energy crisis and other emerging challenges that strain natural resource limits Regulation and Activism—new government regulations, public policy issues and long-term business challenges

These are the factors that will play a key role in your company’s future—and your own personal success. Supplemented with helpful risk-mapping techniques and sample scenarios, this empowering and enlightening book will alter the way you do business today and tomorrow. It is your personal guide to survival and success in a world of constant change.

Paul A. Laudicina is vice president and managing director of A.T. Kearney's Global Business Policy Council, a strategic service helping chief executives and government leaders monitor and capitalize on macroeconomic, geopolitical, socio-demographic and technological change worldwide. Before joining A.T. Kearney and founding the Council nearly 15 years ago, Paul spent 20 years working on global strategic issues in various positions with industry, government and research institutions worldwide.

Your essential business survival guide in today’s complex world

“Paul Laudicina gives extraordinary insight into the emerging environment in which today’s business leaders operate, and more importantly, provides a clear argument for how sound strategy can help overcome the unpredictability and turmoil affecting business performance.”

—J.T. Battenberg III, Chairman, President, and CEO, Delphi Corporation

“In these high-risk times, Paul Laudicina has masterfully integrated the challenges facing international business with the lessons of a disordered world. He offers a comprehensive road map detailing where we are headed as global citizens, consumers, and decision makers in transnational companies.”

—Garrick Utley, President, Neil D. Levin Graduate Institute of International Relations and Commerce, State University of New York

“A compelling overview of the uncertain world at the start of the 21st century. Rigorously researched and powerfully imagined, this is an indispensable guide to decision making in an environment shaped by new risks and opportunities.”

—John Gray, School Professor of European Thought, London School of Economics

“Timely and provocative, World Out of Balance is a helpful companion to decision makers facing growing uncertainty and complexity in global markets. Paul Laudicina lays out a compelling battle plan for leaders determined to reach their goals despite a bewildering array of obstacles.”

—Thomas D’Aquino, President and Chief Executive, Canadian Council of Chief Executives

“World Out of Balance provides valuable insight into the driving forces of the new global environment for business. This is the thinking executive’s guide to tomorrow’s markets and customers—and dangers and challenges. Don’t head into the future without it."

—Martin Walker, Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief, United Press International

About the Author

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Understanding, planning for, and thriving in the global business environment With intelligence and insight, World Out of Balance provides executives, consultants, and business thinkers with the high calibre of information and insight you need to plan for, rather than react to, important emerging trends shaping the global business environment.

FROM THE CRITICS

Soundview Executive Book Summaries

World Out of Balance is a call to action to the corporate community to understand the external world in order to engage it. It explains why companies should develop their own structured, dynamic processes for reading the signs of change in a complex and often perplexing world, with at least one eye firmly directed toward the future. The objective is to sort false signals from meaningful developments so business leaders can anticipate and prepare for changes with the greatest potential impact on business operations down the road.

In World Out of Balance, Paul A. Laudicina, the managing director of A.T. Kearney's prestigious Business Policy Council, provides a practical framework for making sense of changes in the external environment and offers straightforward scenarios of how the future global business environment might evolve. His framework is based on what he has identified as five primary drivers of change - globalization, demographics, the new consumer, natural resources and the environment, and regulation and activism. Laudicina argues that today's earth-shattering events are fundamentally different from those of previous eras of history, as technologies are collapsing distance and spawning unprecedented global interdependence. Only a disciplined strategy will embolden corporate management to engage the world and seize the many opportunities it presents.

A Call to Action
Not long ago, most leading companies had possessed strong in-house capabilities for monitoring changes in the external environment. Companies like Royal Dutch/Shell pioneered increasingly sophisticated risk management and strategic planning functions to balance the considerable opportunities they saw overseas with the enhanced vulnerability to social and political unrest, economic upheaval, and natural disasters to which global expansion exposed them.

Rounds of cost cutting and corporate restructuring took their toll on strategic planning departments in the 1980s, and a decade of "benign globalization" in the 1990s shaped an exuberant worldview among a new generation of business leaders. Many believed that careful planning against external exigencies was largely unnecessary for success in global markets. As a result, most companies today lack the means to identify and manage external risks and find themselves without bearings in this increasingly complex world.

External Uncertainties and Shocks
Business leaders do not need to be paralyzed. Companies can - and should - undertake expansion strategies even when external uncertainties and shocks can have as much impact as traditional industry dynamics. With the most promising opportunities located outside home markets, hiding from risks is not an option. Instead, companies must bring insights about the external environment into the planning process in order to spot and act on new opportunities and avoid emerging threats. The key to this approach is plotting the five drivers that are most likely to shape the global business environment. The five drivers - globalization, demographics, consumer needs, natural resources and environment, and regulation and activism - are interdependent but not always mutually reinforcing.

Strategic Risk Management
Companies are turning to strategic risk management to improve outcomes while continuing to actively engage a volatile global business environment. More than just a checklist of safety measures, a strategic risk management approach identifies the core processes that drive a company's earnings and monitors both internal processes and external events to ensure that risk and reward are continually re-evaluated and rebalanced. The ultimate goal is, through an iterative process, to help companies evaluate their risk management process in the context of a structured "stages of excellence" approach.

The dynamic drivers of the 21st century business conditions - imbued and turbo-charged by extraordinary, ever-expansive technological innovation - underlie a world of continuous change and volatility. Those who fail to rigorously plan for and seize this future are abdicating their responsibility to their shareholders and stakeholders.